Sketchbook
by Shinigami29
Summary: [Oneshot] Her chair was gone, replaced with a bed with sheets, but no blanket or pillow. She was smiling at him, in a way that none of the pretty girls in his red sketchbook had ever smiled. And her eyes… his pencil faltered a moment, before his imaginati


_Disclaimer: _I do not, under any condition, own One Piece... if I did, I wouldn't be here, on my knees, begging you not to rat me out... I DUN WANNA GET SUED!!**  
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**Sketchbook **

An artist's sketchbook isn't really a sketchbook. It's a world of imagination that starts upon every blank page, expanding past unexplored horizons to partake in incredible adventures and coming back with time to spare for family and loved ones. It's a place where anything, and everything, can happen.

And for Captain Usopp, brave warrior of the sea, it did.

Stashed away in an unused cupboard below deck was stack upon stack of sketchbooks and loose paper and more sketchbooks, with the occasional rough painting leaning against the wall. He visited this clever little stash at least once a day, sometimes more, whenever he needed a different sketchbook or to grab a different picture or often just to _look_ and _remember_.

One sketchbook, with a worn red cover, was lovingly place on the top of the pile every day, whether or not it actually left the place that it sat each night. Its pages weren't full, for they were reserved for special pictures. Pictures of the one thing that any brave warrior of the sea wanted back at a land locked home… someone to tell stories to.

The sharp shooter had started the sketchbook not long after his mother died, when his plans for the future had first rooted to take bloom. His mother's image was perfect on the very first page, smiling at him as she waved from ashore, waiting for him and his father to come and tell them what had happened since she had last seen them. Her long hair was blowing over her shoulder; he had put the book aside after drawing that, and hadn't looked at it for several years.

The pictures following that one were similar, with a chestnut haired girl – closer to his own age, with a smaller nose – smiling and waving at him enthusiastically, willing to listen to every word he said, whether or not they were true. The girl cover many pages, and it was obvious to see that the artist had been maturing, if only slightly.

Later, the girl cut her hair as it grew lighter. Her eyes softened to a blue, and her smile lingered is a sadder way, as if to say _'I Miss You'_. One harsh sketch was crossed out (but not removed), and an outline of Usopp himself and an increasingly familiar blond ojousama was on one of the following pages – and after that, nothing but blank.

This sketchbook was special, a treasure of his… but recently, he had been neglecting to draw in it, no matter how much inspiration came to him.

Captain Usopp, brave warrior of the sea, sat on the top deck with it now; he hadn't fully realized that he had grabbed it, just had known that he had several hours of sitting on a docked ship while Luffy, Zolo, and Sanji went to find supplies that they needed for the next leg of their journey. Sitting back lazily, he flipped open the first sketchbook he reached and glanced at the first page to figure out what it contained; people and places that they had seen on their journey.

Grinning, he put the sketchbook down and grabbed a green one. Not bothering to look at the first page – as this was a book filled with all his most recent drawings – he turned to a new one, before glancing across the deck to where the boat's only other passenger sat prettily on her lawn chair reading the news paper.

_Perfect, _Usopp thought to himself, reaching for a pencil and sketching out faint lines that would guide him to the end of his drawing. He looked up once more to see what Nami was doing, a longer look this time, before pulling his knees up and sketching out more lines.

He didn't need to look up again, as he had mesmerized Nami long ago.

Her chair was gone, replaced with a bed with sheets, but no blanket or pillow. She was smiling at him, in a way that none of the pretty girls in his red sketchbook had ever smiled. And her eyes… his pencil faltered a moment, before his imagination won out over logic and he continued.

So what if he had never gotten a good look at her eyes? _It's not as if I'm ever going to be able to correct this anyways. _

He started for a moment when he heard Nami stand up, but didn't bother himself about it. Even if her footsteps were coming towards him, there wasn't a chance, not in a million years, that she would be coming over to talk to him.

"You've been sitting here for almost an hour, Usopp." Then again, he had lied before. Her looked up at her with a big, nervous smile, flipping the sketchbook closed quickly to. The navigator was staring at him curiously. "You have a lot of sketchbooks here… what sort of things do you draw that they take up all this space?"

He shrugged sheepishly, watching as she sighed and sat down across from him, snatching up the closest book; the red one. "I draw lots of things… why?"

"Do you draw anything good?" she drawled out lamely as she looked over the picture of his mother; he felt a surge of anger wash over him, but reminded himself that she probably just didn't realize. "It'd be great if you did," she smiled at him, and he realized that it didn't matter if she did or didn't realize, he couldn't stay mad at her for long. "Then I could sell it and get lots of money!"

"Yeah, I guess you-" He blinked once. Then again. "Hey! Who said that you'd get the money?!" He glared at her harshly; _hmph, same old money-loving wench… why do I even bother..? _

"I did, baka," she rolled her eyes, and then turned her attention back to the book in her hands. "You draw lots of girls… are you some sort of pervert?"

"No!" His glare intensified. "Those are pictures of what every brave warrior of the sea wants!"

"Oh..?" She batted her eyes at him, giving him a sultry look. He knew it was fake, but he felt himself blush anyways. "… and what is it that every brave warrior of the sea wants..?"

"A g-g-girl back home to l-l-listen to his st-st-stories…" he stuttered out slowly, and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Is that all?" Nami sighed, boredom back in her voice. "Really Usopp, I just don't understand you sometimes… Sanji and Zolo act like every other pigheaded male, practically tripping over their feet when they find someone that they want to have sex with –" Usopp really did blush this time "– well, Sanji anyways, Zolo is a little more composed. And Luffy is too much of a numbskull to notice so he doesn't count."

"I don't want stuff like that!" He said angrily, trying in vain not to let his voice go squeaky.

"Hm, figured," she rolled her eyes, before lying backwards on the deck to stare up at the blue, blue sky. "You're gay."

Usopp was shocked. So shocked that he couldn't even scream out _"I'm not gay!"_. He was shocked because her, Nami, the best navigator and the only girl to get 3 absolutely terrifying, and 1 mediocre, men under her complete control, had just called him gay. Him, Captain Usopp, a brave warrior of the sea.

"Nothing to say?" She teased him, closing her eyes delicately.

Usopp stood up, shock wearing off and anger settling back in. He let the sketchbook he had been drawing in fall beside her, causing her eyes to snap open again. "Those are pictures of the thing that every brave warrior of the sea _needs_."

With his haughty air hanging around him, he stomped off so that he wouldn't see her shocked expression when she opened the first book of a page of an artist's, of Usopp's, imagination.

And every page was of her.

_-Owari _


End file.
